POLL: NFL - Contender or Pretender?

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We are now down to eight playoff teams, as the Bengals, Jaguars, Giants, and Bucs were the first to bow out of the playoffs this weekend, with the Patriots, Panthers, Redskins and Steelers moving on. All told, it was a pretty disappointing first round of the playoffs, with three of the four games being well in hand by the winning team long before the game officially ended. The only game that kept fans interested to the very end was the Redskins victory over the Bucs.

Now we go to Round 2, which is when the big boys come out to play. The NFL re-seeds after the first round so that the #6 seeds (who both won) get the #1 seeds in the 2nd round. We'll have Pats at Broncos, and Steelers at Colts in the AFC, and Panters at Bears and Redskins at Seahawks in the NFC. Is it just me, or has there ever been a less impressive group of first round bye teams? Or maybe it's just because the lower seeds have really good records this year. I'm just saying that out of the four favorites (Colts, Seahawks, Bears, Broncos) the only one that I'd be surprsied if they lost is the Colts. Does anyone really think the Bears and Seahawks are that good? Not me. Isn't it possible to imagine the Pats going into Denver and laying the smack down on the Broncos? You betcha. The Colts losing to my beloved Steelers would be surprising. I wouldn't be shocked though if any of the other favorites lost their games.

 

Actually, the only 'upset' I see for the weekend is the Pats. I think the other games are advantageous matchups for the home teams.

'Da Bears defense will shut down the Panthers. So as long as Grossman can get two touchdowns the Bears will win. Unless the Steelers can knock off another QB, the Colts will dominate. Seattle vs. Washington -- been there, done that and Washington got lucky (unlikely this time).

Playing at Denver is such a huge advantage for the Bronco's (especially in January). The elevation and cold just wears down the opponents. The Pats are probably the only team up to that challenge right now.

 

Perhaps I should clarify my statement. I am not predicting that Washington, New England and Carolina are all gonig to win. I'm just saying that I don't think any one of those teams winning would come as a great shock to anyone. Espcially in the NFC. I agree that if Grossman can get two touchdowns the Bears will be in great shape - but 14 has proven to be quite a difficult number for the Bears to reach some weeks.

 

Did I mention that my picks were for the losing teams .

 

Hack - I didn't review your picks until now - you went 4-for-4!

 

I thought I was being clever...Let me regroup and make picks for this weekend...

 

well im gonna post my picks for this week

Colts vs Steelers...i have to go with my hometown team...steelers get pressure on manning and come up with a win

Broncos vs Pats im gonna go with the Pats for the win, even though im guessing this will be the best game of the week

Panthers vs Bears....Panthers with an upset. they got steller defense and a decent offense...balanced with steve smith and their 2 rb's.

Seattle vs Washington...Sean alexander gets 120 yrds rushing and they walk away with the win.

 

My heart's picks are the same as LoS, although I must admit that my head says take the Colts over the Steelers.

 

OK...let's see if these do a little better...

Seattle over Washington
Patriots over Broncos
Colts over Steelers
Panthers over Bears.

 

Hack picked the same four teams I did, which bodes poorly for my picks, but great for my Steelers.

 

I've really tried to find ways to see the Steelers win this one...but every advantage I can see for the Steelers, I find one for Indy that trumps it.

New England and Denver was tough but ended up just being an unwillingness to go against the champs (again).

But who knows...lately a pick from me has been the kiss of death

 

Did anyone else today watch the Steelers vs Colts game? That was the most piss poor officiated game that I have ever seen. I know i sound like I'm trying to cry cuz we lost...but we won..and I'm STILL pissed about it. The officials tried to hand the damn game to the Colts and they still couldn't do it. I honestly think that vanderjackt missed that field goal because he felt bad for how bad we were getting it in the ass.

 

All four games this weekend were very poorly officiated. Being a Pats fan, I'm still convinced that the fix was in for Denver.

If Indy had ended up winning the game, I think someone would have called for an investigation.

 

yea I had heard that the Pats game had been pretty bad too but I didn't say anything because I didn't see the game and didn't want to spread something should it be false.

 

You gotta hand it to the Steelers...they gelded the Colts. To win in spite of the bad calls is certainly a credit to them.

 

Aldeth, are you stil partying?

Big Ben had the play of the YEAR. What was that defender thinking -- the field's wide open, he's one of the fastest players on the field, and he runs right into Ben -- what a dip stick.

I agree, I was disappointed by the officiating -- but it was pretty consistently bad and not one sided.

How 'bout those Bears... talk about playoff jitters. That defence just self-destructed.

Hand it to the Bronco's -- they just kept pounding away. Next week should be good. But I'll go with the home teams.

 

Eh, there were quite a few fishy calls in the Pats game... Asante Samuel's pass interference was a bull**** call. If anything, it should have been offensive interference. And, at the end, when Brady threw the bomb that Lynch intercepted, Givens was pushed in the back by one of the Bronocs on the left while the ball was in the air and before Lynch caught it. Poorly officiated.

Anyways, Pats will be back next year, and we'll be healthy, so we won't play like crap or be undermanned.

 

Doing the dance of joy!

And while I'm on a smileys kick, lets just say that Colt fans must be and , now that the Steelers have laid the smackdown on them.

That said, they nearly gave me a god damn heart attack watching that game. I mean, they really won that game three different times. 1.) Polamalu interception that wasn't an interception, even though the league came out yesterday and said that it was an interception. 2.) Bettis fumbling on the 2 yard line when I thought they were going to score the game-icing touchdown. and 3.) Vanderjadt pushed it so far right I think it landed in Ohio.

I can't believe that some commentators were saying that it was a stupid call for the Steelers to do anything but kneel on the football. That's idiotic. The Colts had all three timeouts. If the Steelers just fell on the ball four times, the Colts would have had to burn all their timeouts, but would have got the ball back with about a minute left deep in their own territory, and still would have had a chance to score. OTOH, if you score a touchdown, the game's over. The last time Bettis fumbled was in December 2003. The guy's reliable - I didn't expect him to fumble there.

The officiating though was terrible, and also there were way more calls against the Steelers than the Colts. In addition to the interception, there was the no-call pass interference on Randle-El, and then the fourth down play where the Steelers might have had a slight flinch, and the Colts came across the line, and the refs called a do-over. WTF? You have to call SOMETHING in that instance. If a ref saw a Steelers lineman move, it's a false start. If they didn't, it's encroachment on the defense. Do-over isn't an option.

I actually think that three out of the four games were poorly officiated. There has already been adequate bitching about the Steeler game, but the Pats game was equally terrible. In addition to what has already been said, it certainly looked like Bailey fumbled that ball out of the endzone. That's huge if it happened that way. It would have been a touchback, and Patriots ball on the 20. Now granted, the Patriots did blow a chance to score on the play, but at least they would have got the ball back without a Denver touchdown.

The Bears game was almost as bad - calling a touchdown when the ball was clearly fumbled out of bounds (although in fairness that call was reversed upon replay review) and throwing a drive-killing interception after the play clock had expired. The only game I didn't have a problem with is the Seattle game.

In closing though - the better team won all four games. Seattle was definitely the better team than Washington, even without Alexander. (As an aside, if you're Carolina, don't you just give Alexander a cheap shot in the head on the very first play of the game to take him out? I mean, isn't that worth a 15-yard penalty?) The Patriots wouldn't have beat Denver even without the poor officiating (if you turn the ball over five times, you deserve to lose). The Steelers clearly outplayed the Colts in nearly every phase of the game (except the last 1:20). The Bears don't deserve to win if their game plan seemed to ignore the fact that one of the best receivers in the game (Steve Smith) was on the opposing team, and thought it was a good plan to play one-on-one coverage with him the whole game. That the cornerback got repeatedly burned was only surprising to the Bears.

 

I thought the Colts had just as many bad calls go against them -- but then, I wasn't rooting for either side and was just enjoying the game. It's amazing how the officiating really sucks when it goes against your team, but it's "part of the game" when your team "get's away with one." There were a lot of non-calls all weekend (especially offensive pass interference).

My take on the calls:

That pass interference putting the ball on the one -- bad call, it was offensive pass interference.

The Bailey fumble was a good call -- it would have been a touchback if not for the penalty. The penalty negated the fumble.

The Polamalu call was a bad call.

The non-call was a good call. Had the center been even reasonably aware, he would have snapped the ball for a defensive offsides. As it was, no one was touched (required for encroachment) and the defense got back before the ball was snapped (since it wasn't snapped, that's not hard). But Aldeth is right, there should have been a penalty: delay of game on the Steelers (but that was not really appropriate since the officials stepped in too soon).

The Steeler's won the game because Harper is a complete idiot -- run down the sidelines = touchdown. Instead, Harper runs straight at the ONLY guy ahead of him. Stupid.

 

Different game. The Bailey play was the interception run back to the one-yard line in the Denver-New England game. You're talking about the call in the Chicago-Carolina game. But you're right, after they reviewed the play the call was correct.

Right. Once the officials blew the whistle (thus ending the play and stopping the play clock) it all became a non-issue. You couldn't call delay of game, because they whistled the play dead, and with no officials seeing any penalty they had nothing to call (which does beg the question of why they stopped the play if they didn't see a penalty?).

I'd say the game was lost by either Manning or Dungy - which ever one of those people was calling the plays in the last 30 seconds of that game. There is NO reason that you should be kicking that field goal with 26 seconds left in the game, and two time outs. None. They had 2nd and 2 and 3rd and 2. You have to call a running play in there somewhere to pick up the first down and have a couple more shots at the endzone or at least to get closer. Granted, the field goal was missed BADLY, so closer might not have made a difference, but that's still poor clock management and play calling. You call a running play on 3rd and 2, likely pick up the first down because the Steelers are playing pass, call you're second time out, and then you have at least two more plays before you have to kick the field goal.

EDIT: And I'm sorry but one five-yard penalty that would have forced the Steelers to punt does not come close to the non-call on Randle-El's pass pattern (that was deep in Indy's territory and would have likely resulted in at least a field goal) and the Polamalu interception. In fact, the only reason Randle-El's interference play isn't being discussed is because of the egregious call on the interception.